About Us

Exmoor Teddy Bears is a well established family run business based in Minehead, West Somerset.
It first appeared in Dunster (a medieval village two miles from Minehead) in 1993 operating out of the lovely Spears Cross Hotel.
After establishing itself as a quality business appealing to collectors, the time was right to move into new premises and that was
achieved a couple of years later with a move to a shop unit on The Steep in Dunster. Here the business was to flourish not only with
the support of many collectors but also by offering high quality plush toys purchased by many visitors to the area. A strong local
trade was also appearing as the business became very well known in the area; in addition mail order was also becoming a very important
part of the success story. Our first secure trading website was also created in late 2003 and was replaced entirely in 2015 with the
development of our new website that you are reading this from. The connection with Dunster was to continue until 2006 when the Dunster
store closed for good and all business was transferred into the Minehead store that had been opened in 2004. The Minehead store offered
much more space and a fantastic location on the main avenue. Over the years the business has also trialled stores in Exeter and Bridgwater
but now trades solely from the Minehead location. During the spring of 2008 the business moved its Minehead store by just 2 doors
to the current location at 58b The Avenue, a move that provided a very prominent shop site that is the first retail shop people come
across if walking up the main Avenue from the sea front. This is where you can still find Exmoor Teddy Bears and hopefully will for
many years to come.

The ownership of the business has only ever changed once and the present owner Martin Kane has been with the business since 2003 when
it was purchased by him from the original owner who started it all in 1993. Martin's wife, Elizabeth, returned to the business after
a six month absence due to maternity leave in early 2007. Martin and Elizabeth Kane now live in Minehead and have a lovely daughter,
Theoni. The Exmoor Teddy Bears team currently consists of Martin, his wife Liz and staff members Courtney, Coral and Emily.

Martin comments, our love of this business is total, it is a wonderful environment where we get to meet lots of lovely people and
also the most fabulous teddy bears and soft toys. We pride ourselves on quality and only stock recognised brands that are renowned
for being leaders in their field. Our ranges include Charlie Bears, Steiff (club store), Ty, Me to You, Hermann Teddy Original (club
store), Keel Toys, Bad Taste Bears (club store), Rainbow Designs, Aurora and many others. Minehead is a fantastic place which gives
us a great quality of life as a family and to have a successful business on the main avenue is a great bonus. The fact that the business
sells Teddy Bears is just amazing since we love every minute of it especially as we are collectors ourselves. We love to put our
enthusiasm both for Minehead and teddy bears into the business and always strive to 'delight' our lovely and much valued customers.
We have many customers who come to us time and time again as well as our Gold Club members who have swollen in numbers massively over the years to become a terrific support to us. Of course we love to meet new people
as well, the shop gives us the chance to meet people from all over the world who come to visit Minehead and pop in to see us.

If you are reading this then you have visited our website and we sincerely thank you for clicking on exmoorteddybears.com. Whether
you choose to buy or not the fact you have come across our lovely business makes us grateful. I hope this page gives you some background
to the history and passion that lives within the business that is Exmoor Teddy Bears.